Link – How mental health alters decision making

“Young kids make decisions based on a set of rules they construct about the world around them – don’t draw on the walls, don’t spit your food, do eat your vegetables. As teenagers, we stop making decisions based on constructed rules and start independently weighing the risks and rewards of different options, but with a greatly reduced regard to risks.

Unlike their peers, people with anorexia never make the switch from following rules to flouting danger. If anything, their rules become more elaborate.

“Imagine if you had all of those rules and were really afraid of taking risks,” says Kathleen Fitzpatrick, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. “They experience a lot of distress when they don’t follow the rules.” That’s why people with anorexia continue to do well in school, sports and other areas, she says. That’s what the rules dictate.

But their rules also dictate strict eating patterns – and breaking those rules is extremely distressing, even if those rules dictate unhealthy habits.”

This is interesting. Much as I’ve talked about before, the biggest issue with adults abused as children is that the normal process of growing up is short circuited, leaving some skills undeveloped. The same thing happens with mental health issues. The brain doesn’t learn how to measure risks appropriately, it overstates some risks, while under-stating others. This creates an internal logic that doesn’t fit reality, but can still be a struggle to overcome.

How mental health alters decision making